Last year, we began working with the Tibetan NGO in Ladakh, Shatsa, whose aim is to “build a community that embraces every child and provides encouragement to catch the reading bug … setting children on the road to lifelong reading.”
With your support, Shatsa has set up the first community library in Leh, as well as a mobile library to serve more remote areas. Tibetan children in Ladakh now have access to thousands of books in English and Tibetan. Alongside this, Shatsa runs workshops for parents on the importance of early years literacy, so they can support and encourage their children’s confidence and reading habits.
Shatsa also works with Tibetan Children’s Village schools in remote regions of Ladakh. Molham (above), a counsellor at Empowering the Vision, visited one of these schools late last summer with Shatsa. Here she shares her reflections on their work and her visit:
“They [Shatsa] help children develop a rich vocabulary, self-expression, and reading comprehension – tools needed to become successful readers and lifelong learners. I had an opportunity to be part of their Reading Intervention Programme at Changthang Hanley School in August. It’s located in a remote village in Ladakh. As part of the program, I took a session with Class 4 and 5 students [10 and 11-year-olds] on career pathways and a parenting workshop with parents. I felt Shatsa is making a big difference in those children’s lives by reaching them since they don’t have internet access and a well-established library to learn”
Please follow Shatsa on instagram to follow the work they are doing: https://www.instagram.com/shatsa.organisation/
